UBC welcomes more B.C. students with new personalized approach

Media Release | September 4, 2012

The University of British Columbia is serving more B.C. students on its campuses than ever before, with continued growth at its Okanagan campus.

UBC’s Vancouver campus will welcome 6,324 new first-year students, of which nearly 3,800 are from B.C. high schools, up four per cent. The incoming class is the first to benefit from a new-to-Canada personalized enrolment services model, dubbed the “Names not Numbers” project. Each incoming student is assigned to a single “enrolment services professional,” who will help guide them through registration, student financial support and more, throughout their entire university career.

“UBC’s strong reputation continues to attract large numbers of students from B.C. and around the world,” said James Ridge, Associate Vice-President and Registrar. “This year we have made some major enrolment innovations. Early responses are very positive. Our peer institutions have expressed a strong interest in how these changes improve student experience.”

Overall enrolment on the Vancouver campus is projected to be 48,768 (including 38,388 undergraduates and 10,380 graduate students), remaining at the same level as last year.

UBC’s Okanagan campus welcomes 1,933 new first-year students to its campus, including 1,249 students from B.C. high schools. Overall enrolment has grown to 8,307 (including 7,652 undergraduates and 655 graduates), up from 7,932 last year.

The total number of new international first-year students at the Vancouver campus is 1,271, and at the Okanagan campus is 187.

UBC has also expanded its admissions process to include not only grades, but also personal experiences, to better select students who will engage in all aspects of university life. Broad-based admissions (BBA) was part of enrolment for all incoming Vancouver first-year undergraduate students this year. This is being implemented for incoming Okanagan campus students next year. UBC is the first large public university in Canada to implement such programs.